One O’Clock Review of The News

“The fiscal cliff is the byproduct of multiple congressional compromises to kick several different cans down the road. Now they’ve all landed in the same spot. Both sides are trying to kick multiple cans at one time and are kicking each other instead. What’s really going on in Washington right now is Republicans are in theater trying to look like the reasonable party. They want back in the good graces of the American public and want to at least save some face when polling says they’ll probably get blamed and their position is unpopular. They might as well give it up. They’re going to get the blame no matter what happens.”

“The only thing worse than losing in politics is quitting after a loss since the vast and great American sport of politics never stops, and increasingly doesn’t even pause for the holidays. Which is why I am grateful for Kelly Ayotte, Ted Cruz, Jon Kyl and Shelley Moore Capito.”

“In his first public criticism of the conduct of the media during the presidential campaign, the chief strategist for Mitt Romney meekly suggests that reporters ‘often felt morally conflicted about being critical’ of President Obama. Obama ‘was a charismatic African American president with a billion dollars, no primary and media that often felt morally conflicted about being critical,’ Stevens says. But if this is all that Stuart Stevens takes away from the campaign coverage, he is woefully ill-informed about the nature of media bias. While it is certainly true that reporters didn’t want to criticize the first black President, Stevens’ comment doesn’t explain the intensity of the media attacks on Romney and the media cover-ups on Obama’s behalf.”